The 2023 South Islands Netball Tournament was a very exciting one for our Senior A netball team, with lots of positive coming from it, and it being a great end to five of our team mates time with Waitaki Netball.

We headed down to Invercargill on Sunday afternoon and got settled into our accommodation. We had many warm-up tournaments and games leading into this (including Triangular and Quad Interschool, Barbara Mell Memorial Tournament, Aorakis, and a Past vs Present game) which prepared us well and meant we were raring to go and hit the court. In our first pool, we had Rangiora, Cashmere, and Nayland College. Our first game of the tournament was against Rangiora, which proved to be a good one for our team, coming away with a 32 - 28  victory. Heading into our 5pm game against Cashmere, we knew it would be a tough one. After being caught on the back foot in the first half, we managed to adjust to the physicality and different playing style, only losing the second half by 2. Unfortunately, the damage was done in the first half, going down 25 - 42. One win and one loss was a decent position to be in after day one, by then we knew that a win against Nayland College in the morning was needed to secure a spot in the Top 16, a place Waitaki Girls’ hasn’t been in since 2018. While we had a big game in the morning, it was time to head back to the accommodation to rest and recover. Our camp mum Ainslie served up delicious food, and defence were on entertainment, with a ‘Britains Got Talent’ theme.

The next morning we headed to the courts ready to play Nayland College. The game was a tough one for us, being down by 5 points at a time during the second quarter. Luckily, we were able to demonstrate fight and determination, being able to clinch a 3-goal victory, securing us a spot in the Top 16.

With a decent gap between our two games, we did some shopping, heading into the new mall in Invercargill. After some ‘retail therapy’, we were ready to go into our second game of the day.

Getting a spot in the Top 16 was super exciting for our team, but we also knew that being in this position meant we would be facing tougher teams, so we had to bring our A game. Our new pool consisted of St Hildas Collegiate, St Andrews College, and Verdon College. We came against St Hildas for our second game on the second day and displayed some great netball. While we weren’t able to come away with a victory, final score was 23 - 37, still credit to the work of all the players in our team.

With another day of one win and one loss, we were in a reasonably good position for the next day. Shooters were on entertainment with some Raro pong, with the defenders obviously coming out on top for this! We headed to bed excited for our games against StAC and Verdon College the next day.

Our morning game was against St Andrews College. Going into it we knew it was going to be a tough game, but we weren’t afraid of the challenge. Likely taking StAC by surprise, they knew by halftime we weren’t a team to take lightly, being down by only 3. By the end of the game the score had blown out slightly, but an overall great performance by our girls was something to be proud of, and pushing a top quality team like StAC gave us a confidence boost going into our second game of the day against Verdon College.

Our new goal after claiming a spot in the Top 16 was to reach the Top 12, and in order to do this we needed to get the win over Verdon. Verdon were a very physical side, but we adjusted quickly and continued playing our brand of netball. 12 warnings and cautions were given out during this game, mainly to their team, with a defender even being sent off for 2 minutes. These disruptions weren’t a problem for our team, and the hard work and amazing skills of the girls meant that we managed to get a 14-goal victory over them, winning 39-25.

Our win over Verdon meant that we cemented ourselves a spot in the 9-12 playoffs. Our final morning game was against Otago Girls, and with one win each this season, we knew this game was going to be close! We headed into the first break up by 7, but by three-quarter time the scores were back level. During the last period it was goal for goal, them going up by 1 and then us coming back even. With 90 seconds to go, Emily Neal managed to get the intercept of the tournament, allowing us to win the game by 2, and go into the 9/10 playoff. This was a great win for us, with everyone taking the court and playing their role in that victory. Our final game of the tournament was against Cashmere, who we had lost to by 17 on the first day. We knew it was going to be a tough battle, but we were now prepared for their physicality and were ready to give it everything, especially since it was five of our Year 13s last game in the tartan dress. The game was relatively even throughout, but unfortunately, Cashmere were able to secure the winning goal with 5 seconds to go, with us losing by just one point and getting 10th place. While losing by one is never fun, we were very proud of our progress, which is shown with the score difference from our first time playing Cashmere only three days earlier, to only losing by one in the dying seconds. 10th place in the South Island is the highest that the Waitaki Girls’ Senior A has got at South Islands since 2017, a remarkable achievement (which is 20 places higher than we got last year). Overall, it was a very successful tournament, and a great way to send off our five Year 13’s, who have contributed so much to Waitaki Netball over their five years here. Thank you Renee Stenning, Emma Fox, Jorja Belt, Mya Nicol, and Brooke Warden for your contribution. Thanks also to Ainslie Nicol for being our camp mum and cooking up some delicious food to keep us fueled. We’d also like to thank RJ Fox for being our awesome manager this season, we can always count on you to provide the choccy milk, paper towels, and lollies to keep us going. We also appreciate you for all the work you do in organising tournament week to ensure it is a success.

And a special thank you goes to our awesome coaches Miss Hueppauff and Indi. We appreciate all the hard work you do and for always showing up for us. We thank you for giving your time to coach us this season, and we have valued your expertise and knowledge.

A special acknowledgement also needs to be made to Diana Fonua. Diana rejoined us this year after a year down south, and has gone from strength to strength, truly dominating the court this season. Her hardwork and determination was recognised by the selectors, with Diana being one of only twenty athletes that was identified for their talent and huge potential in netball. This is a remarkable achievement, with Diana being the first Waitaki Girl recognised in this since Taneisha Fifita, a Southern Steel player and New Zealand age group representative player. Diana, we are so proud of you and can’t wait to see where you go with your netball in the future.